I was very into Craig Breedlove too, when he when pushed the Spirit of America to 407 mph in August of 1963. I read about his accomplishment in Popular Science as a third-grader. It was - now that I check the date - one of the last cool things that happened before the Kennedy assassination.
The car used the J-47 jet engine, which at the time was pretty much the hottest engine in the world. Powered the F-104 Starfighter, the B-58 Hustler, and the F-4 Phantom.
Also - I found out later - was the source of the sound of the engine that powered Dr. Quest's (Jonny Quest's dad) private jet airplane.
I hope he survives this one.
I’m 62 years old and was following him in the early 60’s.
The J47 wasn’t in any of those aircraft.
That was the J79.
I had just turned 12 when he broke the record in ‘63. My Dad gave me a gift subscription to Popular Science was I was 11 or 12 and I kept it going for 20 or so years until it turned into a Parade magazine wannabe. Watching those LSR cars at that age was really excitement! That combined with the Atlas and Thor rockets, then the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned spaceflight programs — those were the glory days, huh? It’s so awful that Viet Nam tore the country apart and we are still paying for the ascendancy of the communists as a result.